Google has always been on the move in the provision of quality service to its customers. Apparently, Google is in the process of developing a service that will enable people get alerts about hotel price changes on any device.
Based on Search Engine Roundtable, Google – through its Google Now service – has been testing the hotel rate alert service to determine its viability.
Search Engine Land followed up and asked Google if there was any truth in the claims. According to the blog, Google responded by saying that the service was just an internal experiment without any plans, as at now, to launch the service to the general public.
News about the service spread wildly when a Google employee used his Google Plus page to praise the service – a post that has since been withdrawn.
It is still unclear how Google Now obtained hotel reservation information. Some people think that they used people's emails, while others think that Google used its Google Hotel Finder platform to obtain information.
This service was pioneered by Yapta, which is part of the Trip-Advisor owned website Tingo, and DreamCheaper – based in Germany. Tingo is an online travel website.
Should this service materialize, hotel owners and managers will have to re-strategize such things as pricing, as well as cancellation policies. This is because he refundable reservation section will experience numerous cancellations and re-bookings, due to hotel price changes.
This, coming after news leaked about Google being in the process of quietly testing an Instant Booking service in select hotels, leaves us wondering if the services will materialize soon. All we can do is to wait, and see.
Such services – Hotel Price Drop Alert, and Instant Booking – will obviously bring a very significant change in the hotel industry. Let us be ready for the next technological big thing the hotel industry is yet to experience!